Cherán

The municipio of Cherán is located in the Mexican state of Michoacán, which is situated in the central western portion of the Republic of Mexico and extends to the Pacific Shore. Cherán, itself, lies in the northwestern portion of Michoacán about 200 miles due west of Mexico City and approximately 123 km (76 mi) west of the state capital of Morelia; it is about 2400 meters (7874 feet) above sea level. The Municipio Cherán is reported to have a population of 16,243, while the Localidad Cherán (town) is officially accounted to have a population of 12,616, including 5,827 men and 6,787 women.

Cherán is one of a contiguous group of eleven Municipios that are demographically denoted as Purépecha. In Crossing Over, a book about the migrant community of Cherán, by Rubén Martínez, the author explains that in the Purépecha language Cherán actually means “a place of fear” alluding to its unfriendly landscape of “abrupt, irregular peaks and chasms” which bodes disaster to anyone taking a careless step. Inhabitants speak the Purépecha language, as well as the local variety of Spanish.

Cherán is in a tropical area but, because of its altitude, is cooler than the lower lying jungles and coastlands. Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática (INEGI) indicates that the average temperatures for Zamora between the years of 1971 and 1999 ranged between 17 and 24 Cº, or 63 and 75 Fº respectively. INEGI also records average annual precipitation in Zamora over the same period of time as being 820.3 mm, or between 33 and 34 inches per year. (Zamora is the closest city for which these statistics are given: it is about 48 km from Cherán – see third link).

Rubén Martínez describes the length of Cherán from north to south as about three-quarters of a mile. The three prominent buildings in Cherán include the church, the presidencia municipal, and the casa de cambio, or currency exchange center. The government website boasts of 2,589 viviendas, or dwellings. The Cherán website also affirms that 80% of water is potable, 60% of the roads are paved, 90% of the streets have public lighting, but only 35% of garbage, or waste, is collected. The Municipio is able to provide education from preschool through high school graduate levels. Adults have access to the services of the Instituto Nacional de Educación [1].

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Wikipedia